


Love Me to Pieces

by inourtownofpanem



Series: Erin Steinbeck Series [1]
Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 08:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13003686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inourtownofpanem/pseuds/inourtownofpanem
Summary: Erin Steinbeck was just as clueless over the outbreak as everyone else was when it happened. One minute, she was a happy and normal eighteen year old who only seemed to care about her heroin addict boyfriend and the next, she was wielding a katana and killing every infected she saw. Funny how things can change so quickly, you hardly realize it's happening until you wake up one day and your whole world comes crashing down around you.





	1. Chapter 1

The sound of an annoying pop song woke Erin up, causing the brunette to angrily groan and throw her phone on the floor to turn the sound off or at least make it quieter so she could go back to sleep. Just as she was about to dose back into dreamland, she felt something jump onto her bed and crawl onto her back. A small smile came onto the brunette's lips as she sat up to give a proper good morning to her cat – Jinx. Jinx purred happily as Erin stroked her black fur, bringing the cat onto her lap.

In those few moments, everything was quiet and peaceful. She waited a few minutes in bed with her cat before she heard the usual sound of glass breaking and shouting from downstairs to indicate her parents were up and fighting – as usual.

Pressing a gentle kiss to her cat's head, Erin moved off her bed to get dressed and ready for school, something she dreaded since she was unrelatedly bullied and made fun of because of her last name. It was Steinbeck. Yes, like that guy who wrote Of Mice and Men – it was a joke that got old very quickly but it seemed to keep idiots laughing like a pack of hyenas all day. It was tedious and boring – but that just seemed to sum up the mind of a teenager in the 21st century.

Picking out a pair of denim shorts and a grey shirt, Erin quickly and quietly got dressed for school before grabbing her phone from under her bed and picked up her backpack, making sure all her books were inside for school. Moving onto her desk, she grabbed her iPod, headphones and her camera shoving them into her backpack before jogging downstairs and into the kitchen.

Opening one of the cabernets, Erin picked out an energy bar and began munching on it as she moved towards the refrigerator, getting out a carton of juice for herself and pouring some into a glass. It was her usual breakfast – energy bars and juice. Her parents weren't exactly the richest people in the world, and what little money they had was mostly spent on drugs or something they didn't need. It got to the point where Erin took up a job at a café during the holidays and weekends just to get her some money to buy herself proper food and things she needed for school.

Just as she was about to grab some food for Jinx, she heard her phone go off in her pocket. Smiling, she opened up her phone to see it was a text from her best friend; Alicia.

ALICIA: You almost ready? I'm just turning into your street

ERIN: Yup, I'll be right out. Gotta feed Jinx then I'll be done

ALICIA: Yay! I still need to see my baby again, yanno

ERIN: Your baby? Dude, she's mine, hands off

ALICIA: You get my brother, I get your cat

ALICIA: WE TALKED ABOUT THIS

ERIN: WE NEVER TALKED ABOUT THIS

ERIN: AND YOUR BROTHER AIN'T EVEN MINE – WE HOOKED UP LIKE ONCE

ERIN: SO THAT DOESN'T COUNT

ALICIA: IT DOES COUNT

ALICIA: NICK USED TO TALK ABOUT YOU A LOT THO

ALICIA: BUT WHATEVZ

ALICIA: NOW GET YO ASS HERE NOW, YOUR NEIGBOR'S LOOKING AT ME LIKE I'M TRYING TO SELL SOME DRUGS

"I'm here, dipshit." Erin joked, laughing as she wrapped an arm around her best friend's shoulders before starting the walk to school.

Erin and Alicia had been friends since the first day of high school. They'd sat next to each other when they were sorted into their classes – luckily being together in almost all of their classes. And they'd been inseparable ever since. Turns out, they only lived fifteen minutes away from each other and school, so they would walk everywhere together. They were almost like twin sisters – they borrowed each other's clothes, listened to the same kind of music, had the same circle of friends… everything was almost the same.

But the differences were almost clear; Erin was on the debate team, a highly skilled pianist, fluent in French and had dreams of becoming a photographer – hence why she brought her camera with her everywhere she went. While Alicia was almost fluent in Spanish and hated the idea of the debate team but was an active member of the art club – even if she was horrible at it. The whole reason why she joined was to be around her then crush now boyfriend Matt Sale, something that was Erin's idea and it worked. Call her matchmaker but Erin was usually the person who people would come to when they wanted to end up with someone, she always knew what to do. As a thank you, people wanted to pair her up with someone else but she always refused – her parents still lived in the Middle Ages and didn't want her dating anyone until she went away to college or move out of home, something she and Alicia planned to do once high school was over.

As soon as the pair arrived at school, they walked straight towards their lockers, still chattering and laughing amongst themselves over something that probably didn't even make sense. While they were chatting, Erin noticed the headmaster coming their way, giving Alicia a slight nudge to tell her.

"Don't forget; yearbook quotes must be in by Friday or you'll get nothing by your photos! Erin, can you please make sure your quote isn't 'I'm still not related to the guy who wrote Of Mice and Men' this year? You've had it for the past two years, think of something creative." He gave Erin a small smile as he walked past, looking between the two girls and a handful of papers.

Rolling her eyes, Erin stepped away from her locker and towards her headmaster. "I'll stop doing it when people stop asking me if I know where East of Eden is, Sir, which will probably be never, so no, I will not think of something creative." She gave him a small middle finger once his back was turned and he disappeared down the hallway, Erin then turned back to her best friend. "I fucking hate that guy. If he doesn't drop dead by the end of the year, I'll kill him myself, I swear to god."

Alicia laughed, an arm wrapping around her best friend's shoulders as she lead her towards their classes. "Let's just get you to class before you decide to kill anyone else, or flip the bird for that matter."

_**~#~** _

Several hours later, the two girls were sitting on the floor in Alicia's bedroom, a plate of cookies in-between them as they chatted and tried to make a start on their homework, but it soon turned into the usual girly chatter about boys and homecoming – something that neither of the girls were planning on going but were thinking about going dressed up in some ridiculous outfits just for a laugh.

Then the conversation went quiet for a while and both girls focused on their work until Erin spoke up in an almost dream-like state. "We're perfect for each other," Erin whispered, looking out of Alicia's window. "Nick and I, I mean."

"How so?" Alicia asked, placing her textbook to one side to look at her best friend, her eyebrows fusing together in confusion.

A small smile came onto Erin's lips, her eyes not leaving the window. "We both like destroying each other. He does it with drugs, I do it with blades. It's a match made in heaven."

Alicia frowned but didn't say a word, preferring to stay silent as the words from her best friend sunk in. In that moment, she sort of understood her best friend more than she ever did in the years they'd been friends – Erin came from a broken home, one that was filled with abuse and a place that was just a house; to the point where Erin had come over in the middle of the night, tears streaming down her face and bruises over her arms and asking to stay the night. She had no home, and she didn't want one. She was fine where she was, even if that wasn't in the best place.

Before either of them could say anything, Erin stood up and grabbed her belongings and placed them into her backpack, almost like she knew something had happened but she didn't say a word before she ran down the stairs towards the kitchen to say goodbye to Madison. "Thanks for the cookies, Mrs. Clark. I think I should be heading home, my cat's gonna kill me if I don't feed her."

"You're very welcome, sweetheart. Do you need me to give you a lift home?" Madison gave Erin a warm smile, wiping her hands dry on a piece of cloth.

Shaking her head, Erin politely declined. "No, that's okay. It's a fifteen minute walk; I'll be fine but thank you for the offer. I hope you find Nick soon," Erin gave Madison a small smile before turning to her best friend who had followed her downstairs shortly after. "I'll see you tomorrow, I love you. And I'll have those pictures developed by the end of the week so we can use them for the collage," she gave Alicia a quick sideways hug before she left the Clark house, placing her headphones into her ears quickly.

The sound of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black filled Erin's ears, drowning out the sound of the busy LA streets around her. She had to force back some tears that were threatening to fall as she walked home, knowing her father and mother wouldn't show her any sympathy if she came in crying. Life was tough, but Erin was far tougher.

 

**_Note_ **

I've set this the day or so before the first episode so you guys get a feel of Erin and her life before everything goes to shit – so I will write the next chapter set during the first episode, I promise.

Hope you guys liked this chapter, though! And it lived up to your expectations, or at least it was an okay first chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

When Erin awoke several days later, she could tell something was different. Her parents weren't fighting or shouting… everything was quiet, something that was rather abnormal in her home life. Frowning to herself, Erin sat up in her bed, her eyes narrowing little as she looked around her bedroom – hoping for some kind of answers but found none.

Rolling out of bed, she chose not to go into her parents room to ask if they were okay, deciding that it wouldn't be the best idea, even if they weren't fighting. Her parents were hardly ever parents to her, they wouldn't give her hugs when she was feeling upset, they never told her that they loved her, they didn't give her encouragement in anything she did… the only times they showed any affection towards her was when they wanted something from her – mostly money to buy whatever they wanted. Yes, her parents would only show affection when they wanted her hard earned money to pay for drugs. It was fucked up, but that was Erin's reality.

Dressing quickly and quietly, Erin checked her phone for any messages but found none. After she'd heard the news that Nick had been found, she had been obsessively checking her phone to see if Alicia had updated her on the situation. As much as she hated to admit it, Erin did have rather strong feelings for Nick, they'd started the time the pair had kissed on Erin's sixteenth birthday. Ever since that night, she'd been crushing on him and it was driving her insane. She didn't tell anyone – not even Alicia.

After feeding Jinx, Erin left the house and started her walk to school with her headphones in and blasting some music to keep her company. After Nick was found, Alicia went to visit him every morning before school and every afternoon after school which made it hard for her to walk with Erin to and from school. A part of her wished she'd brought her bike with her, but she knew that it wouldn't be a good idea in case it was stolen or someone decided to mess around with it.

Arriving at school, Erin quickly noticed how many people were off sick. It seemed like half the school was off; making the school seem empty and slightly creepy but she pushed those thoughts aside as she placed her iPod in her backpack so she wouldn't get into trouble for having one out during school hours.

By the time lunchtime rolled around, Erin frowned a little when she heard that it would be a half day due to so many kids and teachers being off sick, which she thought was strange because she remembered when she was younger that half the school was stranded in Barcelona for a week and yet the school didn't close then. In fact, everyone mostly just watched movies or listened to loud music in their classes since it wasn't fair on the kids in Barcelona to be behind in class.

Erin stayed behind for half an hour or so to have some time perfecting a song on the piano, since she didn't have a piano back at home. The music room was empty, as usual. She sat down at the seat in front of the piano, before taking a deep breath and started playing I Giorni by Ludovico Einadui. As she was playing, she couldn't help but remember one of the first times she and Nick actually spent time together.

_The pair was at a friend's party, but they managed to find a room without anyone in it and didn't have loud music blaring inside it. They sat on the floor of a music room that was filled with a grand piano and various other instruments leaning against the wall. They were just talking about anything and everything that came to mind, drinking a bottle of coke between them._

_"Play me something," Nick requested after a short silence, looking at the grand piano in front of them._

_Erin smiled softly, getting up off the floor and sat in front of the piano. "What do you wanna hear?"_

_"Anything, just something to make the silence go away."_

_Erin nodded her head, turning towards the piano before she took a deep breath and starts playing. The only thing that came to her mind was Where Is My Mind? by The Pixies – one of her favourite songs in the world and knew Nick loved the song, too. As she played, the world seemed to fade away, that was how she always played._

Erin finished playing, taking a few moments to take a deep breath before she grabbed up her belongings and started to walk home from school, music blaring from her headphones. Arriving home, Erin quickly noticed her mother sitting at the dining room table with a glass of wine beside her and her eyes looking somewhat normal, not under the influence of any kind of drug, which made Erin extremely on edge.

Erin placed her backpack and iPod on the floor beside the table and took a step towards her mother. "Momma, are you okay? Has something happened?" She asked, almost afraid to hear the answers that would come from her sober mother.

Erin's mother looked at her daughter, showing the first signs of love Erin had seen in over a decade. "I'm fine, baby. Go to your dad, he has something for you, he's in our room."

Frowning, Erin slowly walked upstairs towards her parents' bedroom, slightly afraid of what was waiting for her behind the slightly closed door. Opening the door, Erin found her father sitting on the bed, his gaze fixed onto the window. "Dad, Momma said you had something for me."

Erin's father turned around quickly towards his daughter, clearly sober just like his wife and handed her a plastic bag filled with hundreds of dollar bills and a folded up piece of paper. "We need you to go to Ricky's and get some supplies."

Once again, Erin frowned as she held onto the plastic bag. "Ricky? Isn't he the guy who owns the gun store downtown? What's going on?"

Her father simply shook his head, placing a hand gently on his daughter's cheek. "Just go, please. And come straight home; don't look at anyone, don't talk to anyone… just get to Ricky's and then come home."

Erin leaned into her father's touch, a faint smile coming onto her lips before she nodded her head and walked back downstairs to grab her backpack and place the plastic bag inside it before walking out towards the garage to retrieve her bike. She hummed to herself as she brought her light blue bicycle out of the garage, checking it was fully working as she did.

Just as she was about to set off, Alicia came into her driveway, smiling widely. "Sorry we didn't talk much today, Nick's decided to make everyone's life harder by running away from the hospital."

Erin rolled her eyes at the mention of Nick's stupidity as she brought her bike towards her best friend before giving Alicia a slight hug. "It's okay, shit happens. But listen, I gotta go; my parents want me to go into the city and get them some stuff, let's just hope I don't get busted for leaving my bike in some place I'm not supposed to leave it. I'll see you tomorrow, or maybe later tonight. And yes, I'll bring you back some Hershey's Kisses."

Alicia laughed a little as she watched her best friend get on her bike, folding her arms over her chest. "Make it Jolly Rancher's and you got yourself a deal."

Erin laughed, too, pushing herself off to start biking away before shouting her reply of; "You got it!"

If Alicia knew what would happen over the next several days, maybe then she wouldn't have let her best friend go into the city alone with nothing to defend herself from what was about to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not happy with this chapter, but then again I am writing at 3am so it could be worse. The next chapter will be miles better than this piece of shit, I promise. But anyways, I still hope you liked it.


	3. Chapter 3

When the riots started, Erin was still in the city. She was in the back of a gun store, talking to the owner who had been a friend of her fathers. She'd handed him the list her parents had given her and it was simple; a gun, bullets and any weapon of Erin's choice, she then handed him a plastic bag filled with money – god knows how her parents got their hands on that much money or where the money even came from, but she was given it along with the list. For all she knew, her parents could've robbed a bank to get the money.

Ricky – the store owner – handed Erin a black 9mm pistol while he placed a small box filled with bullets on the desk in front of her. "You know how to shoot it, kid?" He asked, eyeing the teenager carefully, mentally thinking about what kind of people her parents must've been to send their seventeen year old daughter to gun store alone and with no weapons on her after everything that was happening in the streets lately.

Erin's eyes narrowed a little at Ricky as she held the gun in one hand, placing the box of ammunition in her backpack with the other. "I've seen the movies, you aim at your target and you pull the trigger, I'm not stupid. And besides, I'm not gonna be the one firing it; I'm guessing my parents are."

Ricky's eyes narrowed too, focusing on Erin's face before looking towards her backpack and shrugging his shoulders. "I suppose you're right, kid. Now, your parents left a note at the end of the list, they want you to have any weapon of your choice – and they do mean anything, but being the adult here, don't make it a bomb; those things are dangerous for kids like you and I don't have any in stock."

Erin looked at all the weapons that were around the small room and quickly picked a katana, marvelling at its beauty and ability to slash into things. "I want this one," she smiled as she held it in her hands. It was beautiful, and she wanted it as soon as she saw it.

Ricky came up beside her, placing the katana in a sheath before placing it into Erin's backpack. "It's all yours, kid. Now remember; these are weapons, not toys."

Erin rolled her eyes at that, already knowing it off by heart. "Yeah, yeah, I know. And my name is Erin, not kid."

It was Ricky's turn to roll his eyes but he said nothing, a small smile coming onto his lips as he watched Erin but his smile soon dropped once he heard the sound of glass shattering from the front of the store. He quickly moved towards the security cameras and watched as people broke into the store. The rioters broke into the store and started grabbing any weapon they could get their hands on, breaking into the class containers with their bare fists to get to the guns.

All the color drained from Erin's face as she slowly walked towards the door but instead of locking it, her body seemed to just move through the door and into the chaos of the store.

Almost as soon as she was out, Erin was faced with a rioter, his face covered in blood and dark face paint. She was completely frozen with fear until she felt a fist come into contact with her left eye, causing her to fall backwards from the force of the punch. Erin was still in shock for a moment before she filled with rage and punched the rioter back, using her full body weight to climb onto him to punch him more until she was lifted off him by Ricky and brought back towards the back of the store.

"Get off me! I had him! I could take him on, let me go!" She screamed, trying to get out of the grip of Ricky by kicking repeatedly and struggling with all the energy she had left in her.

Ricky placed Erin down on a chair, locking the door behind him. "Erin, if I let you keep fighting like that, your parents would kill me just for letting you get into a full-blown fist fight."

"I don't care what my parents say or do! I can hold my own, as you saw me do. Now I demand you let me back into that room so I can finish what I started."

Ricky sighed, hiding his face in his hands for a moment before he looked back towards Erin. "If you truly feel this way, I suppose there will be no stopping you," he reluctantly opened the door and allowed Erin to step back inside the store, how overrun with rioters.

Taking a deep breath, Erin slowly stood up and stormed back into the store, grabbing a piece of broken glass as she made her way towards one of the rioters, stabbing the glass into his neck before she used her body weight to weigh him down so she could easily knock him out at least. The rioter, however, was just as eager to fight as she was. He grabbed her arms and forced her body off his, causing Erin to fall off him and onto the glass covered floor, the glass cutting several holes in her clothing.

Letting out a loud scream of anger, Erin forced herself up and grabbed another piece of glass and started stabbing the rioter repeatedly in the neck and chest until she was pulled off him by another rioter who then kicked Erin in the chest, sending her flying backwards into the front desk, which made Erin almost certain she broke something.

The rioter ran towards her, knife in hand and Erin was almost certain she would die but the blow never came, instead Ricky shot the rioter clean in the head before he came over towards Erin, offering her a hand to allow herself to stand back up. "I won't be able to protect you anymore, Erin, I'm sorry. Please be careful, and don't look back. Go home; your parents will be worried about you." He told her firmly, handing Erin her backpack and almost shoved her out of the back door, closing it behind her.

Once she was outside, Erin saw her bike that had been completely destroyed and scowled to herself.  _ **Bloody idiots**_. Rolling her eyes and pulling up the hood over her head, she started the long walk back home. She kept a hand firmly on the handle of her backpack that had her belongings inside it, just to make sure nobody stole anything. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the rioters around her, screaming at each other and acting more like animals than humans. They reminded her of her parents when they didn't get their own way; they'd destroy everything around them, screaming and swearing at each other until one of them gave up, simply tired themselves out or someone called the cops.

Several hours later, Erin was stumbling along the dark streets, barely able to keep her eyes open and keep moving. She was tired. Tired of running, fighting, screaming… she was tired of everything. She could barely see out of her left eye due to it being swollen up to the size of a golf ball last time she looked in a mirror several hours ago, along with seeing a few cuts along her body.

Turning into her street, she saw Nick Clark sitting outside her home with a worried look on his face. A small smile came onto Erin's lips as she stumbled towards him. "Nick," she almost whispered once she reached him, watching him stand up and hold onto her gently, as if she was made of glass. Before he could ask any questions, she pressed her lips to his quickly then her world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that this chapter is complete – I'll probably go to writing each chapter to go with the episodes so it would make more sense. But I hope you guys are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!
> 
> I've decided that this book will be set during season one and I'll write a sequel that will be set during season two – heck; I've even started planning it. And I'll post it as soon as this story is finished.


	4. Chapter 4

"It's been nine days since the soldiers moved in and since we found Erin," Chris began into the camera in his hands, looking around him to make sure nobody was listening before turning back towards the camera and continuing. "Uhm, we don't know what she went through but all we know is that it was bad. She's got some minor burns to her left arm, along with a few cuts and bruises along her legs, a lot of bruising to her face, she can hardly see out of her left eye and a huge cut across her face, so really anything could've happened to her. She should heal soon, maybe have a few scars but she'll recover... but she hasn't spoken a word to anyone since we found her. I don't think she's really eaten, either. I'm worried about her, we all are, I think we'll need to ask around if we can take her into some kind of hospital or to a therapist – I don't know, maybe it'll help," he looked around, quickly noticing Erin staring at him. Placing his camera down, he gave her a small smile. "Hey, Erin, you feeling better today?"

Erin did say anything, just kept looking at Chris until Madison came up behind her, resting her hands gently on Erin's shoulders. "Erin, it's time to look at your bandages, you feeling okay today? Come on, let's get you out of the sun, it won't be good for your burns without protection."

The pair walked back inside, Madison giving Chris a gentle smile before closing the door behind Erin before bringing her into the living room where a small medical pack was placed. Erin barely flinched as her bandages were taken off; showing the extent of what she went through that night in the sunlight. Madison was worried that there would be some wounds that wouldn't heal, like Erin's eye, the cut across her face and the burns littered across her body. The physical scars would heal in time, but the mental scars would take more than a few band aids and pain pills to heal.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened?" Madison asked, gently removing one of the bandages on Erin's arms before picking up a small bottle, placing a clear liquid on her hand before gently rubbing it on her arm.

Erin stiffened at her words before she started physically shaking until she was a crying mess and had to be held tightly by Madison to help stop her crying. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Do you want to go to sleep?" Erin nodded and Madison led her towards her room, allowing Erin to change into a shirt and her underwear before she was given medication to help her sleep and Madison left her.

Several hours later, Nick walked through the house, trying to find Erin but found nothing. Finding Madison, he walks up to her. "Hey mom, where's Erin?"

Madison frowned a little, placing the book she was reading down. "She's in her room, asleep. Why?"

"Yeah, I just went to check up on her, and she's not there."

"What?"

"She's not in her room, she's gone. Her window's open and her clothes are gone."

"Shit… Do you know where she'd go?"

"I have an idea."

Nick walked through the safety zone and towards the edge of it, where he knew Erin's house would be and where he hopped she would be. Arriving, he cautiously walked into Erin's house and quietly walked into her bedroom where he found her sitting on her bed, staring out the window.

After a few minutes of silence, Nick finally spoke up. "What happened?"

Erin didn't turn around as she spoke, her head still fixed on her window. "My parents sent me into the city to get them some things but before I could cycle back home, people broke into the store and I just didn't know what to do but I started fighting them and one almost killed me but the store owner got them off me… it all just happened so fast. I managed to get out and escape but while I was walking home, a rioter got hold of me and dragged me into another store and... they tried to rape me but I managed to escape then they burned the shop down, hence the burns and the cuts and bruises. I managed to get out with my things and walked home, and then you found me.

"Anyway, I asked the soldiers if it was okay to go home and they said yes but they told me that the two occupants they had found in the house had bullet wounds to their heads and one of them held the gun... meaning my parents shot themselves while I was out. They weren't infected; they just gave up on everything. They left me a note explaining that they've always felt guilty about leaving me with no money and no future so they decided to find a way to make sure I was out of the house so they could kill themselves without me intervening. They're gone, and now I'm the only one left. I have no-one left."

Nick sat down beside Erin, his eyes trailing over her face, taking in every bruise and cut on her face and body. Before he even realized it, his lips met Erin's in a gentle kiss. "You have me; you'll always have me," Nick whispered against her lips, pressing another kiss to them. Before either of them fully realized it, all their clothes were on the floor and all that mattered was getting closer to each other, as close as they possibly could.

**~#~**

The pair lay under the covers together, Erin's head resting on Nick's bare chest while his fingers ran through her hair, pressing gentle kisses to the top of her head. "We should be heading back at some point, y'know."

Erin frowned a little, rolling onto her front to face Nick properly, "I don't wanna go back, I just wanna stay in bed with you forever – at least then I don't need to think about all the things that's happening outside this room," she shook her head, hiding her face in the crook of Nick's neck. "That was too fucking cheesy, even for me. But I suppose we should be heading back," she muttered before rolling out of bed to grab her clothes and throwing Nick's towards him.

After many jokes and kisses, the pair walked through the dark streets back to the Clark household. Their hands were laced together as they walked, trying to avoid getting caught by the soldiers who might shout at them for being out after curfew.

Arriving back, Madison almost immediately came towards them. "You're back, thank god. We were starting to get worried," she gave them both a serious look before closing the door behind them.

Erin smiled to herself, almost laughing but she somehow held it together, forcing herself not to laugh as to not give away what she and Nick had been doing while being away. "Sorry, Mrs. Clark, I guess we lost track of time."

"Erin, can I take a look at your wounds? I just wanna make sure they're healing correctly."

"Yeah, sure," Erin nodded, releasing Nick's hand to walk into the dining room with Madison following close behind. But before Madison could even open the medical pack, the soldiers moved into the house, demanding Griselda Salazar and Nick.

Erin frowned as she listened to the soldiers, sprinting out of the room as soon as she heard Nick's name, trying to get to Nick but was held back by one of the soldiers. "Nick! No! Please don't take him!"

Nick fought through the restraints but couldn't get back to Erin as hard as he tried, he just couldn't. "Erin, I'll come back, okay? I promise you, I'll come find you. I love you." He almost shouted over the sounds of people around him as he was forced out of the house.

Erin didn't get a chance to reply before Nick was quickly shoved into the back of an army truck which swiftly drove away. She watched the truck drive away and promptly fell to her knees, almost screaming through her tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Erin, my poor broken baby, I feel so evil for doing this to her but since I'm Satan, I can do it. I totally didn't plan on Erin and Nick finally doing it in this chapter but shit happens, bruh. bUT THEY'RE JUST SO CUTE, I CAN'T CONTAIN MY FEELINGS. I will say that doing it will bring consequences within the next few chapters and the next book – it's basically the butterfly effect here so I'm just giving everyone a heads up.
> 
> Not sure how I feel about this chapter, I keep thinking it moves too fast but I'll leave that up to you guys. If you guys think it's shit, please tell me so I can improve! I'm not like those people who can't take criticism, believe me; I can so lay it on me.
> 
> Next chapter will probably be short since not that much really happens that I can fit Erin into and it'll all lead up to the finale which will probably be long as fuck – expect that to take like four months for me to write.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been almost thirteen hours since Nick was taken and Erin hadn't slept since he left, instead she was sat on the floor of her room, cook's knife in hand and staring at the wall. The last words Nick said to her replayed in her mind over and over and it was slowly driving her insane; "I'll come back and find you, I love you". Somehow, she doubted that last part – guessing he said it as a spur of the moment move. She didn't know what hurt more – not having being able to give Nick a reply, or Nick not meaning what he said to her. But either way, her heart hurt more than it should.

She hadn't even noticed Madison coming into her room with a small plate of bread and butter until she spoke up. "At some point, you're going to have to eat and sleep, Erin. You know that, right? Your wounds won't heal properly until you do."

Erin frowned a little before answering, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll do both once Nick is back."

"Y'know at some point you're going to have to realize that Nick might not be coming back, at least not for a while."

Erin didn't say anything for quite a while, her staring intensified for a moment before she spoke up once more. "I'm still waiting for him to come back, he promised me. I don't care what you or anyone else says, I'm waiting, no matter how long that will take."

"Erin-"

Erin cut her off as she raised the knife, shooting Madison a death glare as she slowly shook her head. "Don't."

Madison left Erin alone after that, leaving the plate of food on the floor before closing the door behind her. Several hours later; it was starting to get dark, almost marking twenty-four hours since Nick had gone and Erin was still in a state of complete shell-shock. A light knock on the door came and revealed to be Alicia, seemingly trying to get her best friend to eat and at least talk to her. Alicia sat next to Erin with two plates of food; she placed one on her lap while she offered the other to Erin, who shook her head at the sight of it. "Are you okay?" Alicia asked, placing Erin's plate on the floor beside them.

Erin sighed a little, moving a little closer to Alicia. "I'm fine... I just can't sleep or eat... My mind keeps going over all those worthless pieces of sheet music, Nick not being here and revision notes for that geography test we were supposed to do a few days before things went to shit. Pretty stupid, huh?"

"No, it's alright. I guess you just haven't had time to adjust yet."

"How'm I supposed to adjust, Alicia? Everything I've ever cared about, everything I've worked for... has all been preparation for a future that no longer exists." Erin shook her head slightly before staring at the plate of food in front of her, almost in a trancelike state. "Something bad is coming."

"You've been around my brother too long; you sound just like him when he was on one." Alicia shook her head, preparing herself to leave before Erin grabbed her arm in an iron grip, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Alicia, you don't understand... I have seen things out there and it's bad... You have to get out of here, there is something out here and it's coming for all of us... We need to leave right now."

"But the soldiers will protect us."

"They won't do anything! When the time comes, they will leave us for dead. I've seen it in their eyes, I've seen that look before and it's not good."

Alicia stopped for a moment, taking in what her best friend had told her before wriggling herself out of Erin's grip. "I don't say this often but; please stop, you're scaring me." She then almost sprinted out of the room, completely abandoning her plate of food before she closed the door firmly behind her.

Erin sat on the floor for a moment, muttering "whatever" under her breath before standing up and climbing out of her window to go to the only place that felt safe to her at that moment – home.

_**~#~** _

Erin slowly walked around her empty house, looking at the dried blood on the wall and floor of the living room – where her parents had been found. The bodies had been removed but since nobody wanted to live in the house anymore and nobody had come to clean, the blood remained there and probably would remain there until someone either burned the house down or painted over it.

Ignoring the rest of the clutter-filled house, Erin walked upstairs and went straight to her parent's room; somewhere she hadn't really been into for years – either out of fear of her parents or out of already knowing what to expect once inside.

It was relatively clean – despite a few patches of dust and empty pill bottles scattered around the floor – it did look like it had been lived in. Erin took in the room for a second before she let out a loud scream, throwing a glass vase on the ground and watched it shatter on the floor beside her feet. She picked up the biggest piece she could find and held it against her wrist but it never broke the skin, it was there in her trembling hand but she never let it cut her skin – something she saw as cowardice at the time. Throwing away the piece of glass, Erin brought out a photograph her parents had in their top draw of them with a six month old Erin at the beach – as happy as a new family should be. Cradling the photograph, in her arms, Erin climbed onto her parent's bed and finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than expected to write, and for that I'm sorry. But we're almost at this book's end – aka the season finale and I legit can't wait omg.
> 
> Extra brownie points if you noticed the nod to Control by Halsey in this chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

Erin was awoken by Madison's voice and a gentle shake on her shoulder, bringing her out of her perfect dream world and back into her ugly reality. "Erin, sweetheart, it's time. Pack up as much as you can, we'll be downstairs when you're ready." Once those words were said, she left the room to leave Erin to wake up on her own.

It took Erin a while to realize what she was talking about but soon it clicked; they were leaving the safe zone and heading into no man's land to go after Nick and the others. Erin knew this day was coming, she just didn't expect it to come so quickly.

Sitting in bed for a few more minutes, Erin sighed and rolled out of bed. After changing into a simple white shirt and jeans, she moved into her bedroom and shoved as many clothes and photos into her backpack. After she was finished, the only things left were her piano sheet music, camera and her now useless school books. She gave her room one last look before she left the room, closing the door behind her, forcing back her tears.

The last things Erin took from her home were the cook's knife she kept with her at all times and her father's baseball bat which had both her parents' names and her name soldered into the handle, just so she wouldn't forget. Despite everything her parents had done over the years, Erin still loved them and missed them every day since they died.

Before any tears or moments of sadness came, Erin marched out of the house, towards the cars and placed her backpack and her weapons inside before climbing in herself. The whole drive towards the military command post, Erin felt numb. She didn't feel like herself, and she guessed that would be a good thing given the events that were about to happen.

Before she realized it, the car had stopped inside a parking lot, causing the brunette to climb out of the car along with the others.

"Erin, stay in the car." Madison told her firmly, pointing to the car she just gotten out of.

Erin frowned, slamming the door shut. "Like hell I am. I'm not staying behind, I'm not gonna be the tin dog!" Everyone raised their eyebrows at her, clearly not understanding the joke, causing Erin to roll her eyes. "It's from Doctor Who, idiots!"

"Y'know, I preferred you when you were mute."

"I preferred you when I didn't see your annoying face every goddamned day,  _ **Chris**_."

"Hey," Travis almost shouted to get Chris and Erin to stop and look towards him. "Alicia, Chris and Erin; you will stay here and wait for us to come back. No questions or excuses."

Erin's eyes narrowed before she flipped Travis off and stormed back into the car, slamming the door behind her and grabbing her iPod and played music to show she was staying but she wasn't happy about it.

_**~#~** _

After getting bored of her music, Erin walked out of the car and towards Alicia and Chris, but kept her knife hidden in her jacket just in case something happened. Just as she was about to contribute to the conversation they were having, Chris alerted them of three people walking into the parking lot, causing Alicia and Chris to hide in the SUV and Erin under it.

She couldn't fully hear what was being said between them but she could tell Alicia was in trouble and Chris had been knocked out cold and that was enough to get her blood boiling. Slowly, she crawled out from under the car and grabbed the back of one of the soldier's heads, holding her knife against his throat. "I'll give you an ultimatum, if you let my friends go; I won't cut your head off and use your blood as make-up and make your friends watch, knowing they will be next – do we have an understanding, asshole?"

The two soldiers laughed, slowly closing in on Erin and the third soldier in her iron grip. "I think we all know you don't have the guts to kill a man, sweetheart. So let our friend go so we can get the fuck out of here."

Erin's eyebrow rose slightly. "You think this is a joke? It's far from it," she almost laughed out before pressing the blade against his neck, causing it to bleed, but she didn't stop there until the blade moved across the entirety of his neck and she finally dropped him from her grasp. "Is it a joke now? Your friend ain't making it out of here alive, so I recommend you get the fuck out of here before you two will be next."

The two soldiers were visibly shaking as they almost sprinted towards the SUV, starting it and drove away as fast as they possibly could, leaving Erin's shirt covered in blood and Alicia on the verge of either vomiting or passing out. Noticing her best friend's condition, Erin ran towards her, dropping the knife as she ran. "Alicia, are you okay? Do you need to throw up?"

Alicia nodded her head slowly, bringing Erin into a tight hug. "Don't ever do that again – you looked like some kind of savage."

Erin laughed, hugging Alicia back tightly. "Don't worry; I won't do it for a long time or unless you tell me to."

The pair laughed and hugged for a few short moments longer before properly tending to Chris until the others returned, concerned about the now missing SUV but all Erin was concerned about was Nick and her heart almost leapt out of her chest the moment she saw him. "Nick?!" Erin almost screeched, sprinting across the parking lot towards Nick, colliding into him before jumping into his arms, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist. "I saw all the infected, I thought you were dead too, don't you dare do that to me again, you fucking asshole."

Nick laughed, his arms wrapping tightly around Erin's body as he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'm sorry, I won't do that again. I promise," he smiled against her lips, his forehead pressed against hers as the pair walked towards the cars, completely lost in their own world until Erin fell asleep in Nick's arms, completely oblivious to everything that was going on.

Erin was still sleeping when the cars arrived at Strand's house, causing Nick to pick her up once more and carry her inside and lay her on the couch and there she stayed on the couch until the gunshot woke her up and she knew her world would never be the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of Love Me to Pieces – hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it; the sequel is up and it's called Make a Shadow and will be set during season two so hopefully, it'll be longer than this one. Hope to see you all in the sequel!


End file.
